8B) The Hero Sonia Sotomayor

I think "My beloved world", was chosen to be the common read for our class because Sonia Sotomayor demonstrates that anything is possible through her testimony. She was able to overcome many challenges in her life from a very young age. Her life was diffidently a journey from growing up with little to no money to being diagnosed with diabetes, giving herself insulin injections. Growing up was also tough with the fact that her mom and her did not have the best relationship but somehow with her strength and talent she made it very far. Even with a broken language of English she was able to adapt and not give up on herself or dreams. From a young age she was interested in becoming a judge, and graduating from Yale Law School she soon perused her goal. When she became a judge in 1992 everything went uphill from her then. She soon became the first Latina Supreme court justice in U.S history in 2009. Her memoir is very inspiring to me and encouraging in many different ways. I feel that first year students can get a lot out of this story because when we have a tough day and think it’s the end of the word we can think about Sonia and what she went through to get where she is now. As human beings we sometimes over exaggerate on the most little things, we are quick to become angry, and at times are not thankful when we really should be. Sonia demonstrates through this quote "Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich." This calls to say that at the times were we “think” we have it really bad either at school, work, personally, at home, financially, etc. We may not, we should always focus on what lies ahead of us and not focus on negativity because it brings us down. This does apply to any college student because she worked incredibly hard towards her one goal that opened many opportunities for her. This gives us a sense to never give up on our dreams when situations become hard. She is a reliable source that anything is possible. Sonia is amazing at what she does or she would not have the title she has. I’m pleased that she is the common read for our class. We can all take something out of "My Beloved World" and relate it to ourselves in at least one way.  

W8) Vocabulary Mastery

Mastery:

When I think about mastery I think about hard work and dedication to something that you love doing with a passion. With true dedication to working with something you simply enjoy doing. This may be a subject here at southern, a career, instrument, computers, etc. There are many different things that an individual can master. Mastery is something that can be built with experience in the field that is studied you cannot become a mater at anything overnight. When you have become a master at something there is little to no mistakes that you make. Mastery can be considered very hard but it is reachable. Each and every one of us should aim to achieve at least one thing in our lives that we would like to become a master at.

8A) Ways of enhancement for myself

One video midterm assignment that I enjoyed watching was the Brown eyed girl. Her video had a lot of facts in it that I never knew. I really liked how she set up her blog. The whole blog in fact is creative and I haven’t seen anything like hers. I also adored how different the setup is with all the different columns, there is a lot of detail to her blog in general which shows that she put time and effort into each one of her weekly blogs. Each of her postings is a good length. I like how you have to click the picture or words for the blog to appear larger. I would like to learn how she set up her blog because it does stand out from the others. Her blog was so detailed and striking to the eye that there is no way that I could’ve read something from one of her posts and forget. I believe “The Brown Eyed Girl” would receive an A or better on most of her blogs. 

            The other blog that I liked was “An owls mind”. Her blog background went along with her overall title because it looked exactly like owl feathers on the right and left of the page. I liked this blog because the images that she has posted caught my attention when scrolling down. Because of this responsiveness, I started to read what was posted by her. I realized that we do have some of the same point of views. I am not a big fan of my math class teacher. Even though it is not because of the language barrier between us both, my situation is that I am not learning much from her as a professor. My situation is different considering that I do not take a math class at Southern but at a Community college. However the both of us are simply not learning much in the class from a teacher that we can’t seem to understand. I am not as motivated to study as much as I do for my subjects at southern. With the fact that math is my hardest subject to understand I should be studying the topic even more. She had  a great connection by a positive influence she has to get her work done with help from her boyfriend. I can also relate to this because I have someone help me in math when I do not understand the problem which would be my mother’s fiancé. He is very good with money and works with it each day of his career. Overall the way that she was able to connect a negative situation and find a resource I believe deserves a good grade. Her blog was well written and I liked the images she had in the blog. Since I was able to connect with her blog is the reason why I like it as much as I do.  

Vocabulary week seven

Failure- Failure is a commonly used word that may be used for many different reasons, here’s some examples.

1. The condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends: the failure of an experiment.

2. One that fails: a failure at one's career.

3. The condition or fact of being insufficient or falling short: a crop failure.

4. A cessation of proper functioning or performance: a power failure.

5. Nonperformance of what is requested or expected; omission: failure to report a change of address.

6. The act or fact of failing to pass a course, test, or assignment.

7. A decline in strength or effectiveness.

8. The act or fact of becoming bankrupt or insolvent.

Finding Myself In College

One aspect that I am failing in would be my methods of studying. In the past I normally studied for long periods of time, actually it did work out for me at that time. I used to study what was not necessary, which had my brain on overload because when I went to take a quiz or test, there was so much on my mind at once that I would forget it all.  However now that I am in college and work it is a whole different ball game. I realized earlier this week that I should change and relook at study habits because I know I can broaden my knowledge with different techniques. I no longer have the time to study for subjects as long as I did when in high school because of different priorities that I now have in college. I noticed that I do the same kind of studying for each of my classes which makes it extremely repetitive and boring for me. Overall each time I want to study I stray from doing so simply because I don’t want to be bored to death. This is the incorrect way for me to look at studying; I should find other techniques that do not make me stress out about studying. I know it needs to get done one way or another in order to succeed and not fail. This week I studied for my quiz in media in a different way then I routinely have done. I studied with my friend and I was not bored, stressed or even tired about studying. On this Media quiz I feel like I did well so I believe my new of studying skill will and have benefited me. I don’t always have to isolate myself from other people when I do study and in fact the other person may be keeping me on focused.  I learned that now I am in college I realize I  did not fail in high school with my study habits but now I have to adapt to the changes of a stage in life that I am in. Therefore I believe failure only leads to change. I hope over time failure is looked at as a motivation to be better and not a bad thing.  

Is Failure A Decision?

I feel that as children are growing up depending on how they were raised by their parents, has a lot to do with if failing is acceptable to them. Siblings and family background has a huge impact on an adolescent because if their family is extremely serious when it comes to failing at anything, chances are they are not raised that failing is acceptable. Personally to me I feel that failing is important to your achievement to grow. Furthering your knowledge in many cases can be hard and at times you do fail but that is not a bad thing at all, you should practice on what can be improved for next time and learn from your experiences. Somehow kids are taught that the best way is to win, win, win! But in reality life is not always easy, so being able to cope with failure is necessary. Even if you do try your best at something unfortunately you can still fail at it. In sports I think that individuals should not want to fail but strive to win however to loose and beat them-selves over it I do disagree with. In general I feel that school should be a place where failing is acceptable because no matter how good you are at a subject you will most likely fail at it a quiz or test at least once. I don’t know who came up with this metaphor but I have heard “Failure is not a option.” I believe that failure can be an option if you really are not applying yourself to the best of your ability. For example, someone can be lazy and want a positive outcome but in college and in life it does not work that way. You really need to apply a great amount of time on each subject weather you like it or not. The whole point is you can be successful in school/college even if you do fail on a quiz or test you would then try even harder the time not to fail. Just because you fail at one subject also doesn’t mean that you are a failure. In the case of them applying themselves to the subject, and still failing may just be that the subject learned is not for the individual in general. Many (Not all people) apply motivation to a course they are in and may never understand the topic that well for different scenarios however they may love the topic and just not how the professor communicates it or grades. In society I feel it is hard for people to look at failing acceptable but I feel the only way that you achieve better results for yourself would be by improvement, so if you don’t do too well on one thing, don’t think it’s the end of the word. Just find where you lacked and how you can improve yourself for the next time! The greatest thing to do is have the courage to further excel and not give up on the challenge that you are facing. One of the quotes that I liked from this week’s reading was outliners – “The amount of practice necessary for exceptional performance is so extensive that people on top need help.” I really loved this quote because someone can’t be perfect at everything, everyone has their own flaws and it’s just to say that every now and then failing is necessary for self-improvement.

Different Perspectives Of Thinking

 

 

 

 

 

 

The concepts that we have learned in the past weeks of this semester compared to what we have learned the six week are not exactly alike because the past weeks articles assigned were critical thinking. Some examples are in the image above as to what we as the listeners are trained to do. To think, analyze, synthesis, make connections, etc. For many of our class discussions we are able to come up with different conclusions to positions in readings or videos, therefore at times we do not all agree. This week literal thinking came into mind instead of critical thinking where more than one answer still is important. Whereas literal thinking the choices are very narrow. Literal thinking involves solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not always obvious and involving ideas that may not be available by using only traditional step by step logic. Literal thinking includes reporting, summarizing the information, and lastly to define. In conclusion liberal thinking will come up with an exact answer either being right or wrong. The article that I found interesting this week was “Angela Duckworth and the research on “Grit”, luck and money which was a very straight forward article that is a liberal read. One part about the article that caught my attention was when I read about “First generation college students”, because I am a first generation college student in my family. This quote stated “When first-generation students come up against obstacles in college, they have no one in their families to turn to for help, says Villanueva. College-educated families provide their students with support that many students and families may not even be aware of, but it's a powerful force that helps propel students through college. Villanueva says first-generation students are at a disadvantage.” This proclamation is something that I do not agree with because I have a very encouraging family that does support me greatly. My mom and grandma both encourage me, are concerned with my college life, and I feel can come to them for any kind of help. If my mom does not know the correct way to support me academically (so far she has in every way I’ve questioned) she knows that there are also resources on campus so in reality that is something that is out of her control. No college student has their parents holding their hands throughout the four years or more. It is my responsibility to find resources that will work for me. Parents only have a small percentage of an influence on their children by the time they are in college. I feel if you really want a degree then you will achieve that degree with hard work but family does not have the biggest influence on your success as a college student in general. So I do not agree in what the quote states for many reasons. When this quote was mentioned also Not only do first-generation students lack the kind of family support that can help them overcome obstacles in college, they also tend to face more obstacles than higher-income students from college-educated families, according to Villanueva and her colleagues at YES Prep. They may have trouble with money or financial aid paperwork. A lot of the students have to work while going to school…Many live at home and have family obligations…Research shows all of these things make going to college harder and increase the chances a student will quit. My INQ question to this is, How does this statistic only pertain to “first generation college students” and why? There are college students that may have dropped out of higher education for the same reasons listed above that are not first generation college students. What is the difference in comparison to not first generation college student drop out rates?

In a previous article “the indispensable importance of setting goals in college”, By Dennis Congos. Personally this article is beneficial because I received a different perspective about setting college goals as well as how setting goals are underestimated. I liked the quote, “The ability to set and achieve goals in college is so important that without it, it's difficult, perhaps impossible, to feel motivated to learn what's necessary to succeed or excel.”  I simply want to exceed and excel in college therefore I’m applying this quote to my everyday life, by working my best at being persistent in my school work even at tough times.   

Our vocabulary word for week six was persistence: 

      1. Quality of persisting: the quality of continuing steadily despite problems or difficulties

2.      Act of persisting: the action of somebody who persists with something.

3.      Long continuance of something: continuance of an effect after its cause has ceased or been removed.

 

 

My Summer Upon Completion Of Graduation

One significant challenge that I have faced in my life of nineteen years that I’ll never forget was the University Access Program. The five weeks of this summer program at Southern CT was honestly the hardest achievement that I ever completed. I was stressed out physically and emotionally with taking on the responsibilities of a “real college student” for the start of my summer in June (just graduating from my high school a week before). What was really hard for me to overcome this challenge was adjusting to living conditions of living on campus with all of the rules the program held. I took five classes which were reading, English, math, and a college success class all of the classes were TONS of work. I felt overwhelmed because in order to go to Southern in the fall I had to pass each of the classes with a c+ or better. Another reason about the program that I struggled with was I had no personal escape. Examples of my personal escape would be working out, listening to music, and being alone when I need to be.

On the positive side of the program we had peer mentors that helped us throughout the program twenty four hours with day time mentors and our night time mentors. We were able to talk to them or ask for help if we didn’t understand an assignment. We also had a math tutor and an English tutor. Both of these resources from the UAP were much help to me. This UAP program did teach me in many ways to be persistent in my studies because I was put into these hard mock classrooms where I wanted to prove to myself that I am capable of being a successful college student at a university level. I was tested in all kinds of ways throughout this program. If we did not choose to do the work, or had behavioral issues, didn’t show up to class, or any other issue regarding to the contract we all signed we were kicked out. Even with all of the distractions at times I successfully was able to pass the program by trying my hardest in all the subjects, using the resources given, doing all my homework, and lots of studying. Strategies that I learned were to stay focused even when others were not, time management, prioritizing. Over all working through this challenge was really difficult for me and at times I did want to give up. However I knew I could get through it by trying my hardest and that’s exactly what I did.  I am proud to say that I was persistent in my work effort over the summer and I am using the study habits I learned over the summer and applying that to my courses now in the fall. This experience of being in The UAP program gave me the knowledge and the insight to understand how college can be overall. I was in the program for a reason and I know it’s because I needed that preparation. I was and still am very glad that I chose to be in the UAP program now I know more people on campus who are my friends from the summer program, I feel more prepared for what college will bring me and strategies that I learned will benefit me now in numerous of ways socially and academically. I learned that I can do all everything I set my mind to as long as I’m focused on one outcome which is to have my studies come first and keep earning my degree in mind.